Absolute Chaos

Their were at least a dozen giraffes gathered at dusk, Kaydir stood outside his small mud hut peering into the vast open plains. The goats and gazelle were in the near distance slowly grazing their last snacks in the dark twilight as the night now claimed the lands. The giraffe were usually shy animals, only venturing near his home when the other animals had drifted off into the grassland for the night.

Kaydir smiled at the sight, feeling blessed with seeing such magnificence, he would only usually see a few in one group, yet tonight they all seemed to come together.

Suddenly, the giraffes long necks craned high into the near darkness, alarmed by something that Kaydir could not yet see or hear, their elegant ears rising towards the thousands of distant homes that littered Otamia’s vast hillside.

Kaydir’s two dogs pricked their ears and slowly stood, also alerted to the sounds coming from the tall grass.

Telling his hounds to stay, he walked slowly towards the herd of giraffe, now able to hear a faint noise in the grassland just beyond him.

Kaydir jumped a little as the herd suddenly took off, trotting a short way towards the goats and stopping abruptly, staring towards him.

Now he saw a silhouette sway out from the dark long grass. The moon slithered out from the clouds, casting a dull silver light, just enough to make out the small figure coming towards him.

It was Maia, she staggered out from the grassland, his heart swelling, then shattering at the sight of her. He could barely recognised her voice as she spoke, only just hearing her words.

“Kaydir,....I...Araphel, he....I’m sorry.” Maia crumpled to the ground and lay lifeless in the long grass.

Rushing towards her, Kaydir skidded to his knees, grabbed her slumped bloody body and held her against him. Quickly darting his eyes from side to side, scanning the horizon, he easily lifted Maia’s small lithe body up off the ground.

Kicking his hut door shut behind them, he rushed Maia to his bed of reeds and feathers and propped her up against some furs he used to rest his head upon.

She was near naked, barely covered by her torn flax wrap, blood and dirt had streaked her arms, legs and face. Nasty cuts ringed her ankles and wrists, the blood had clotted a little, although it still seeped out from her flesh.

Seeing the blood on the flax that barely covered her thighs, he knew right away she’d been raped, raped by Araphel.

Kaydir’s blood boiled into a furious eddy, it raged like deadly lava deep in his veins.

Kneeling next to his bed, Kaydir stroked Maia’s face, gently trying to rouse her.

“Maia,...Maia.” Whispering. She started to stir, watching her large eyes move under their dark lids, moaning a little before she opened them.

“Kaydir?.” She gazed deep into his soul, her dark chocolate irises huge with fear, devastation and shame.

Maia was the most stunning woman Kaydir had ever seen, his love for her was pure, seeing her like this shattered his soul, splinting it into billions of shards of sheer agony.

He would kill Araphel for this!, he would rip out his heart and cut off his head!.

“Kaydir,....I am so sorry to put this on you,....I did not know where else to go.....I do not know who I can trust anymore!.” Tears filled Maia’s eyes, he instantly moved his arms around her, holding her tiny frame against his brawn. He had never seen Maia cry, until now, she had always held her emotions deep inside.

She barely made a sound as the silent tears streamed down his chest. He held her gently, not wanting to hurt her bruised and bloody body, silently stroking her hair, letting her endless tears fall.

After quite some time Maia wiped at her eyes. Kaydir slid his arms from her and fished a clean cloth, handing it to her. Wiping her red rimmed eyes and nose, she looked into his deep green irises, searching his confounding depths.

“Kaydir, I need to find Raijen....I learned something tonight.... it has shocked me to the core!.” She could barely walk, there was no way she was looking for Raijen in her condition.

“Why do you need to speak with Raijen with such urgency?, you are hurt Maia!, you cannot go anywhere!.” Lowering her huge lids, Kaydir could feel the shame pouring from her, he did not understand why she would be ashamed, what Araphel had done was not her fault .

“Kaydir,.....I don’t know how to say this, but.....but Lykus has betrayed Raijen!, he has betrayed us all!.” Her words shocked him, it took him a few moments before he could respond.

“Maia, what has happened?....what happened to you tonight?.” He couldn’t believe what she had just declared. Lykus and Raijen were the very best of friends, there would be no way he would betray him, yet he believed Maia without question, she would never lie, he knew this much of her.

“I will explain everything to you Kaydir, I promise, but can we first find Raijen?… and we must warn....Amaunet, I do not know if she is still in Raijen’s caves....” Maia struggled to get up, nevertheless Kaydir held her in place. He did not know who Amaunet was, she must be a friend of Raijen’s.

“Maia, please stay here, I will send my hounds to fetch my sisters and Rakim, they will find Raijen and this woman friend of his.”

Maia agreed, Kaydir leaving her for a few moment whilst he went outside to call his two dogs, both pure bred basenjis and his very best friends. His high pitch whistle sliced into the night, hearing their barks immediately in the near distance. The dogs stirred the goats a little, he heard a few bleats ring out into the silence as they slid through the tall grass towards Kaydir.

Both hounds now sat at his feet whilst scratching their heads in unison.

“Good girl, good boy.” The two dogs obediently sat before their master.

Kaydir untied a thin bracelet from his ankle, it was made from flax and hemp, dyed a deep green. His sisters, Kaija and Kaiya had made it for him many years before.

Squatting down between the two dogs, he tied it to the bitches collar and whispered to them both, “Find the girls....go!.” The dogs immediately took off into the darkness, disappearing into the plains.

Returning to Maia, he walked to his lit fire place and poured some water into a pot. It warmed quickly, then poured it into a small pottery dish, found a few clean scraps of flax linen and walked towards Maia.

Kaydir looked into her huge frightened eyes, he couldn’t just see her deep pain, he could feel it. Every ounce of his fibre felt her agony and sadness. She did not say what she had endured from Araphel, nevertheless he could only imagine.

Her flax wrap was torn and bloody, her skin bruised, her wrists and ankles had obviously been bound. He could see where she had struggled to free her ties from her wrists, the cuts where quite deep and still seeped with hot blood.

Helping prop her up against the mud brick wall of his small hut, he carefully leaned around her, slipping a light fur about her cool shoulders.

“The dogs will fetch my sisters, they should not take too long.”

He lived at the bottom of Otamia’s hillside, however his hut was on the far side of the grasslands, quite a fair distance from the city’s gates. He could see most of the grasslands from here, keeping watch over the vast herds that grazed in the shadows of the great pyramid, the temple where they worshipped their God Temu.

They didn’t speak, their silence had always been familiar and comfortable. Kaydir ever so carefully dabbed at the blood and dirt on her dark skin, gently wiping it from her smooth flesh. He started with her arms and wrists, touching each cut with tenderness, not wanting to hurt the woman he profoundly cared for.

Once each arm and wrist was cleaned, he fetched clean water from the jug on his stone table, pouring Maia a mug of the cool fluid to drink, then knelt at her feet and continued to gently wash each foot and ankle, making his way up both legs, stopping near the top of each thigh.

He could not bare the agony tearing at his pure heart, Maia had suffered unbearable pain from the man he hated beyond all others. Araphel had killed his mother and father some four years prior, the triplets had barely turned eighteen years when the cruel King had deceived them, now hurting another he truly and deeply cared for.

Kaydir’s rage stampeded into an untamed fury, spinning wildly like a crazed tornado deep inside, crushing his core. He imagined slicing Araphel’s head from his shoulders, holding it high in his hands. All the people of Otamia would cheer with laughter as he threw his putrid skull deep into the mighty Nile.

But alas, this was just a fantasy, he had never felt such pure hatred towards a living thing before, never wanting to kill another living soul, not until he had met Araphel.

His reverie dissolved, turning his attention back to Maia whom began to speak, listening carefully, her voice husky and low in the dull fires light.

“I don’t know how to thank you....you are the only one I can trust Kaydir, always treating me with respect, even when it was not merited.” Maia paused, she took a small sip of water from the little pottery mug before continuing.

“Something happened when Araphel was on his last raid. I made Raijen a promise I would never speak of this, especially to his father.” She looked into his dark emeralds, her huge eyes searching his.

“Araphel summoned me to his chambers, he tried to make me talk Kaydir.....I would never break a promise!, I hope you at least know this of me.” Hanging her head low, Kaydir immediately slid his arm around Maia’s shoulders and pulled her close.

“Maia, you are the most loyal person I know and I would not say that lightly!. Whatever your secret is with Raijen, I know you would never tell another soul,....whatever the consequences may be.” Kaydir didn’t know what else to say, he knew that whatever had happened while Araphel was away was vitally important to be kept secret, important enough for Raijen’s monster of a father to rape and torture Maia for the information.